2 way radios?

[definately dory]

I am not sure if anyone knows anything about these or has used them in Disney before but what I am wondering is if they actually work there. Is there too much interference going on that they are not worth the trouble? My husband wants to bring some in case we all get seperated but I am just wondering if they will work there because of evrything in the way.

 

[CastMemberDWA]

2 ways work fine...even better is if you have NEXTEL PTT phones. We have often used 2 way radios here and I have a small supply of them I send with my northern family when they come to visit me and the world. It is nice in case you purposely decide to divide and conquer the park...(ride things the other doesn't want to ride)

Have fun!
As for interference/channels: just experiment with channels...it is nice to be able to switch if a freq. gets too busy. Determine ahead of time what the alternate channel will be.

 

[momsgoofy]

I've heard many people who using them, but I've also heard people complaing about too many others using the same channel so it was hard to hear. The last couple of trips we have just taken 2 of our Verizon cell phones since we get free in-network calling and reception has been great, except for a couple of spots like inside the Land pavillion...like a basement.

 

[flipturngirl]

2 ways work if u have a channel no one else uses. MY dad's name is common "John" *and well we would have to say is this "JOHN SMITH" instead of dad or just "John" so just be sure they work. Prepaid works great because you can put more minutes on and it is great!
"John"* not the real name.

 

[Twende]

We just returned and used two sets of walkie Talkie type two way radios.
They worked very well.

We used made up unique names for our selves. I was "Convoy Commander" or C-2 for short!

One day in AK things got a bit busy and we changed channels. Instead of saying what channel to go to we used things like go to your birthday day because there was one family that was really being annoying and we figured they would follow us to the new channel if we gave them the chance.

Other than that one incident with that one family, the radios worked great and we will use them on the next trip.

 

[mickey0216]

We considered buying 2-way radios (FRS), but determined that it less expensive to incur "fees" associated with using our (4) PA based cell phones than the cost to buy decent radios.

 

[JimVL]

I know this isn't what the thread is about, but 30 years ago my parents didn't freak out about where I was. And 10 years ago I didn't freak out about where my kids were. Today I see kids answering there nextel, and I feel sorry for them.

Jim

 

[momsgoofy]

I know this isn't what the thread is about, but 30 years ago my parents didn't freak out about where I was. And 10 years ago I didn't freak out about where my kids were. Today I see kids answering there nextel, and I feel sorry for them.

Jim

I had to chuckle when I read your post! You are so right! But in all honesty, I take the extra phone for DH, who tends to wander...lol DS and I got tired of losing him in the World of Disney so we give HIM the extra phone now.

 

[bullpup12564]

Even with the extra power we had problems. The channels were always full and even at full voulume it was hard to hear the other person paging you due to the noise level of the parks.

My advice is to buy them somewhere you can return them if they dont work like target or somewhere with a good return policy.

 

[Michelina]

We used Motorola walkie talkies for our trips two and three years ago. Never had a problem w/ reception or anyone else on our channel EXCEPT for one day at MGM when a guy came on and said that he knew where I was and was going to come and "get" me. (Get isn't the word he used.)
I just laughed it off but it wouldn't have been so funny if I had been a little kid.
Now we just use our cell phones, they are smaller and I'd want to have to have mine with me anyway.

 

[definately dory]

I like the sound of just using cell phones but I am from Canada so I can't even imagine how much the roaming charges would be to use them in the parks. I just had the conversation with my mother about how as a child we did everything as kids and now all those things are like big no no's. If I didn't let my kids do all the things that she says not to they would live in a bubble. I think my husband wants to use the radios because there is a large group of us going and I have a feeling we will split up into two groups. One thrill seeker group and one sit back and watch some shows group. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[pepe of ohio]

Having started going to WDW in 1977, before all the electronic wizardry, it was more pleasant and crowds haven't changed. All types of people then as now but now its the consent clatter of other peoples conversations that I prefer not to hear. Most racket on these items are nonsense. I'ld rather ban all cells and walkie talkies and just have families stick together like in the old days. I'll get alot of guff over these statements but thats my opinion and hearing a cell phone ring on a ride or where ever and hear the person just chatting is annoying. I don't own one, I do my calling from home only and I don't need to converse with anyone when I'm away, they can wait till I return. Some will say its for emergencies, there were emergencies in the 70's and 80's too, and we got along fine without them.

 

[Paxtrist]

We used our Motorola walkie talkies last year and had no problems. Could hear the other person clearly and no interference. They came in useful a few times.

 

[mainewmn]

We tried to use walkie talkie the last time we went in 2003 during the slow time in early December. There was so much talking on all the channels and so much interruption that it was impossible to hear anything other then other people. We quickly abandoned the walkie talkie plan and decided to stick to our cell phones in the future.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

We considered buying 2-way radios (FRS), but determined that it less expensive to incur "fees" associated with using our (4) PA based cell phones than the cost to buy decent radios.

A couple of years ago we tried walkie talkies and all we could get were a bunch of people speaking a foreign language....on any channel we tried!! Now we just use our cell phones...This last trip, when DH and DS7 would want to do something different than DS5 and myself, we used them a lot. It was nice not to have to try to talk around people that I couldn't even understand...

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

We debated getting 2-way radios for our trip in May (DH, myself, my old roomie ("Roo") and her DH). Then we realized that we all had Verizon and were on the "in" network with free calls to each other, so we decided to go with the cell phone route and just be ready to buy the radios if the cell phones weren't working. We especially liked having them for parade/fireworks times when it was really crowded and easy to get separated from each other.

The only problem we ran into was when Roo and I were off for a girls day at Epcot and our DH's called us and we had turned the phones off while we were on a ride! They were a little put out that we hadn't been quickly accessible at all times when they wanted to find us.

Roo's DH was terrible about keeping his phone buried in his backpack where he couldn't hear it when it rang. We had a tough time getting ahold of him with the phones - I don't know that the radios would have been any better.
We did have a "cell phone check" rule - everyone had to turn the phones off when we were all together, and if we split up we would keep the phones on vibrate or silent when we were in an attraction. It usually worked well, as long as we all carried our phones where we could hear them!